ZANESVILLE - A broken wire caused the arms at the railroad crossing on Linden Avenue to incorrectly lower Wednesday afternoon.

The arms at the rail crossing across Linden Avenue, just past the I-70 underpass, reportedly dropped shortly after a train passed by around 4:20 p.m.

An eyewitness told the Times Recorder that the arms had gone up after the train passed, but shortly thereafter lowered again. No other trains passed through the crossing.

Police redirected traffic around the crossing until engineers from the Ohio Central Railroad arrived around 6 p.m.

The engineers raised the arms and almost immediately identified the issue: a broken wire connecting two rail segments.

The old wire, normally soldered to the two segments, had become detached on one side, likely clipped by the earlier passing train.

Because of the break in the electrical system, the crossing's fail-safe system kicked in, lowering the arms to keep vehicles off the tracks. The engineers quickly removed the old wire and soldered on a new one.